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Reia made a face at the small group clustered in the military humvee Cherry had stolen from the Aztec campsite, and then she pointed out irritably: "You know, for one thing, this motorcycle is just a bit too big for me, if you haven't noticed. For another, if it falls over, there's no way in Hell I'm ever going to be able to right it. Finally, I'm carrying a fucking rocket launcher on my shoulder and I have no idea how the hell I'm supposed to get it up that embankment."

Cherry leaned out the passenger window with a grin, saying in a sugary voice: "Well, if you're saying you can't do it, I guess I can take over for you, or maybe Cindy can..."

"Fine, I'll do it." Reia said morbidly, lowering her head and cursing her pride as she gunned the engine with one hand, the long cylinder of the rocket launcher, RPG, whatever it was resting on her shoulder and the aiming mechanism currently closed. The head of a rocket was sticking out of the tube, firmly locked into place by four large claws that would release only after the explosive was activated... and Reia growled a bit as she twisted the bike, kicking up dirt as she shot up a narrow path leading up towards a squat row of cliffs.

"'Atta girl." Cherry murmured, and then she sat back and motioned for Cindy to drive onwards, and she nodded. She was dressed in a conservative military uniform with long sleeves, a flak vest, and long pants that tucked neatly into kleated metal boots... while Cherry herself had a tight black belly shirt on that showed off plenty of cleavage and jeans with a matching shade. Combat boots sparkled on her feet from obsessive polishing... and a silk-wrapped weapon sat on her lap, the female looking down at this thoughtfully. "You remember the plan, Cindy?"

Cindy nodded, patting the grenade launcher holstered on her hip as the other stayed firmly on the wheel, driving the humvee slowly towards the gates that blocked the road and the guard post beside it. In the distance was the facility Zerrex had described, and Cherry could see several tanks and other war machines forming a perimeter around their own base as black specks she guessed were soldiers ran back and forth. "Looks like Daddy is already stirring up trouble."

"He needs us." Marina murmured softly, hugging herself quietly. She was dressed in her schoolgirl outfit, complete with tie â€" her argument for this had been ‘Daddy thinks I'm pretty whne I wear it,' and no one had been able to convince her to change. Beside her sat Szar, in an old Hez'Ranna uniform, the bandaged-up demon looking uncomfortable: for the last few days, he'd been running around talking with other demons, and they had picked him up â€" along with a gaggle of demons trailing behind them in a minivan stuffed like a clown car, an image that made Cherry think the apocalypse truly was nigh â€" and asked him to lead the group behind them.

He had agreed hesitantly, not liking the idea of fighting his own brothers â€" and worse, going up against Beatrice, the infamous Lust Incarnation â€" and now he was fidgeting nervously as they pulled up to the guard booth. A single soldier approached them, looking irritable before his eyes settled on Cindy and Cherry beyond, and he leaned down with a grin, saying easily: "About time some girls showed up! Believe me, the base will be glad to have you... hey, sweetheart, you have some identification?"

"Right here." Cindy said gently, and she reached down to pull her grenade launcher out of her holster, taking aim at the soldier. Immediately, the guard staggered backwards in horror, raising his hands... and Cindy fired a round into him, the short-range grenade blowing him into chunks that splattered over the humvee before she fired a second round into the booth beyond, and the roof blew off, sailing high into the air as whatever computer systems were inside were trashed, blue fire and lighting lacing out from the guard booth.

Cherry winced as Cindy pushed two more rounds into the short-barreled, rifle-shaped grenade launcher, and then she leaned over and asked quietly: "Is uh... that the sign we should all suit up?"

"We still have time." Cindy said coldly, holstering her weapon before she drove the humvee through the plain chainlink gate in front of them, tearing it down and sending up a slew of sparks. Electricity coursed uselessly over the vehicle, and the once-gentle female glanced over to Cherry, asking softly: "Are you sure Reia will be able to get around the security system?"

"She'll be able to get in close enough, either way, from the layout of the security fence... bitch just can't stand but to get involved, just like me." Cherry grinned slightly, before she added quietly: "But hey, tone it down a bit, huh? We don't want the Boss thinking that I've gone and turned you evil or something, huh?"

Cindy only grunted as she drove onwards, keeping her eyes steadily on the road in front of her before she began to slow as they came into clear sight of the facility, idling carefully past a cliff and coming into view of a large mess tent as Cherry muttered: "Casual ain't gonna work in this situation, Cindy... the alarms are gonna turn things into a big mess for us. We'd best wait for Reia to send up the signal."

The female nodded, and they both glanced up towards the cliffs... and the dragoness herself was currently driving over a rocky ridge, bouncing against the seat of the motorcycle, her arm aching and teeth grit as she felt a strange thrill at the same time at the fact she was actually managing this, sliding down a long slope and twisting the throttle to roar up a long hill before she skidded to a halt at the edge of a curled, dirty cliff, looking down coldly over the facility before her and the PMCs scattered around it, muttering: "Utterly disgusting..."

She pulled the small screen on the side of the launcher open, and it displayed random information she didn't really understand, but also showed exactly where the rocket would hit and the approximate radius of the explosion as she targeted the building. Cherry had told her just to fire off a shot at random into the facility and drive away, far and fast... but she thought she should at least find a good shot instead of wasting a rocket.

The dragoness paused, then nodded and made a face as she found an appropriate place to hit before she half-squeezed the trigger, then cursed and mumbled under her breath as she remembered the button sequence she had to hit on the side of launcher. She pressed in three small yellow buttons, and the rocket's clamps detached before it spun once and something inside the launcher geared up... and Reia took aim again before squeezing the trigger hard.

The rocket shot out with a blast of fire that would have knocked her over if not for the weight of the motorcycle leaning against her leg, and then she stared as the explosive collided with the side of the building and blew a hole in it, brick and rock flying over the cluster of soldiers she'd aimed just above and knocking them scattering. Then she regained her senses and threw the launcher away, twisting the throttle to full and roaring down the cliffs as she grasped both handlebars tightly, gritting her teeth as bullets shot into the cliffs and several humvees and jeeps full of Aztec soldier shot down the interior of their own facility, breaking up the perimeter to give chase.

A short distance away, Cindy and Cherry watched as the explosion went up, and they nodded to each other as they leapt out of the humvee, Cherry tossing the silk sheet away as she clamped the manacle it had been hiding onto her arm and grasped the sword at the end of a long, magical chain tightly in one hand. Swords had never really been her thing... but this combined the best of both worlds, and the demoness grinned at the thrill of power it sent through her, her muscles flexing and her horns curling forwards slightly. Besides, I got my whip on my belt too... but something tells me this'll work out fine.

Her other hand rested on the butt of a handgun, and without even glancing up she drew and fired a round into the head of a soldier charging towards her, knocking him flat. She slowly looked up as the rest of the encampment began to storm towards them, and Szar turned and sprinted towards the van now quickly approaching from behind, a gatling gun in his hands. Cindy, meanwhile, had snagged her sword from where it was attached to the top of the humvee by magnets, clamping it onto her back as Marina emerged with a cold smile, a submachine gun hanging loosely from one hand. They didn't have a lot... but they were good with on-site procurement by now.

The three ran forwards, breaking away from Szar's group of demons to run for the hole Reia had blown in the wall. Soldiers immediately formed a line as enemy demons ran towards them, but Cherry only grinned coldly and muttered a quick incantation, and a wall of fire tore up from the ground beneath the row of soldiers.

Several of them backed off, but most of the line was ripped apart, decimated as their weapons exploded in their hands and their bodies burst into flame. Several demons fell from friendly fire as well, before the rest were easily cleaned up and driven back by shots from both Marina and Cindy, the latter female slapping a new grenade into the magazine and reloading with every shot she took, pulling the small explosives out of the bandolier she'd strapped across her body.

On one side, several medium-sized tanks rolled forwards, while an armored personnel carrier pulled in front of the hole in the wall, the twin 40mm turrets on top of the machine rotating towards the group... but Marina rose a hand, her eyes glowing as her psychic powers seized the heavy troop transport before she threw it to the side into the tanks with only a wave of her arm, and soldiers scattered, screaming and yelling in terror as even the demons hesitated long enough for the group to charge through the burning hole and into the facility with minimal resistence from the enemy.

Immediately, a shock ran through Cherry's body... and she looked at the others, shouting: "We're splitting up! You two, head down into the interior, I'm going this way, that's an order!"

Even Marina didn't dare argue, only nodding as she and Cindy ran forwards into the facility... while Cherry charged down the other hallway towards a staircase. A pair of soldiers immediately stumbled their way back up the stairs as she bolted towards them, one of them firing randomly behind himself, but Cherry easily stayed out of the path of the bullets before she threw the sword forwards and snapped her wrist to the side on instinct, and the blade tore through both of the Aztec troops, knocking them flat.

She jerked her arm back, and the sword flew immediately back to her, the chain lengthening and shortening as necessary... and Cherry grinned as she caught the blade, leaping over the bodies and turning to snarl as a trio of soldiers opened up at her, two of them kneeling and one standing... but the demoness danced through the hail of bullets, slashing her sword out to knock rounds she detected with her psychic powers away from her body here and there, before finally throwing the sword forwards as two of them hit empty and the last turned to flee.

It tore through the chest of one of the soldiers, then Cherry ripped downwards and jerked the sword back, and the kneeling soldier blinked, then stared upwards in horror at the sight of his friend's guts spilling slowly down his arm. He trembled violently, then fainted as his friend's corpse slumped lazily backwards with a long sigh, and the demoness snorted quietly before her eyes narrowed as several demons charged out of a room, their eyes burning with fury as they gave frenzied howls and ran towards her.

Cherry rose one of the purple-steel magnums, firing several shots into the head of the first in line, then the minotaur following him before she blasted the head off the Gore Devil clawing along the roof... and as he fell, a quiet clapping started from the end of the room. A moment later, the corpses vanished into blue flames... and Cherry trembled, staring at the source of the energy that had led her here as she whispered: "Mom..."

Beatrice smiled coldly, a hoop hanging from one arm as she looked contemptibly over her daughter, and then she shook her head slowly, saying teasingly: "Weak. Only a Dius... not even an Amazon or a Gorgon. Now imagine how powerful you could have become if you'd only trained your mind, Cynthia, instead of training your body... and your pussy, with all the fucking you did over the course of your life. And still using mortal tools to fight... you don't deserve the Great Diviner... so I think I'll take it from you. Come here."

Beatrice rose a hand and beckoned... and Cherry's back arched, her breath whistling out of her before her feet slid slowly over the carpet, the female unable to wrestle free from the psychic grip of her mother, her eyes becoming enraptured by Beatrice's very body and power as she whispered raggedly: "It's mine... you won't... you won't break me..."

"I can do whatever I want to you." Beatrice said softly in return, and Cherry shivered and tried to look away as her body pressed against Beatrice's, before shuddering violently as the female reached down to squeeze slowly between Cherry's legs, her other arm wrapping around her neck as she pushed her muzzle down against her neck, breathing in her scent. "Look at this, you stupid slut... I'm your own mother and you're trapped in the grip of my powers... you're nothing but burning Lust, and thus a weak Dius like you can't hope to stand against a very Incarnation of your sin..."

"No... n-no..." Cherry groaned, shuddering as Beatrice's hand drew up from her crotch over her body, moving to slowly squeeze one of her breasts... and she fought hard against the arousal, breathing harder as Beatrice's hand slid down her back slowly... and then she kissed her lips, and Cherry slowly began to slump forwards as she felt the life so easily being sucked from her body, whimpering uselessly as she thought weakly: I'm the failure, Boss... I'm sorry...

Cherry's scales slowly began to lose their color, as Beatrice's body began to pulse and glow... and then she drew back with a laugh, licking her muzzle slowly as she bared her fangs and said hungrily: "But there's another powerful essence in you... and I want it, Cynthia, give it to me!"

Her jaws clamped down on Cherry's neck as blue fire shot over the Dius's body, and Cherry screamed before swinging her sword upwards on instinct... and Beatrice howled in agony, ripping her teeth away and sending out a thick spray of blood as she shoved her daughter backwards, snarling and gripping at the wound in her stomach, her face twisted and ugly. Blood ran down her fingers in a steady stream, and Cherry began to regain her pallor, the blue fire whisping out as Beatrice rasped: "So you'd kill your own mother... to preserve your own worthless whore life, Cynthia?"

"It's Cherry!" The female howled in return, leaping up to her feet and snarling as she rose the handgun, and she fired several bullets uselessly at Beatrice, the rounds only twisting around the Incarnation's body as her eyes glowed. "And mother? Since when did you ever act like my mother, you... you bitch! You sold us all for sex, you raised my brothers to be rapists, you gave me as a fucking sex-toy to your ‘husband,' while you went out and found as many guys as you could to fuck your ass at once!"

"You be quiet now, Cherry." Beatrice said in a deadly voice, looming up to her full height, then she strode forwards and swung a hand out, slapping Cherry hard across the face. The female staggered backwards, horrified as it brought back terrible childhood memories before Beatrice narrowed her eyes, adding darkly: "Everyone else might think you're special... but I know you're just a slut with a few magic tricks. Now follow me."

Beatrice turned and strode away... and Cherry snarled before saying one clear word, as hard as it was for her to force out with the overwhelming terror rolling through her body: "No."

The Incarnation halted, then lowered her head and slowly looked back over her shoulder, her eyes glowing as she asked softly: "What did you just say?"

"I said ‘no,' so... so fuck you." Cherry managed out, and she grinned shakily as she nodded firmly, holstering her handgun and crossing her arms, the sword still hanging loosely from one hand as a giddy feeling ran through her form. Beatrice turned around, her teeth gritting... and Cherry added in a firm voice: "I'm not scared of you."

"Don't lie to mommy now, Cynthia." The female turned around with a cruel smile, before she held up a hand and added darkly: "Besides, I only asked because it was polite, which is something you still need to learn."

Beatrice snapped her fingers, and blue fire burst up around them both, Cherry looking back and forth with a snarl of shock. A moment later, the blue flames burst apart, both females vanishing from sight before their bodies reformed out of the same material high on the highest roof of the facility, and Beatrice gazed slowly around along the thirty-foot square, smoke and steam floating out of several large vents and long, thin furnace pipes as she murmured softly: "This should serve adequately for me to teach you a lesson... just why Mommy is always right, and her stupid daughter is always a worthless little punk whore."

"I've had enough of you, mother." Cherry said coldly, leaping backwards even as tears stung at her eyes and focusing herself, the weapon Beatrice had called the Great Diviner held tightly in one hand as her mind focused. She looked coldly out at the Incarnation as she created another hoop out of blue flames, but her precognition couldn't focus on Beatrice... then again, it never could. All I can see is that weird haze around her... she must bar all psychic abilities somehow with her own... "Let's begin and see which one of us is just a bitch."

Beatrice snarled, then hurled her two hoops forwards... but Cherry snap-drew one of the magnums and fired a round into each hoop, knocking them off-course before blasting several rounds at Beatrice. The psychic only snorted and ignored them, however, the rounds twisting around her body and going wild before she pointed a finger at Cherry, and her hand exploded into blue flames, the Dius snarling and staggering backwards before as she dropped the handgun, both hoops shooting viciously towards her head.

Cherry immediately growled and snapped her head forwards, and both hoops were sent flying as she headbutted them crudely as she snatched up her fallen .52 and fired off a set of shots towards the other female. Beatrice looked disgusted as her eyes glowed again, the shots deflected around her body and her hoops circling quickly back in, before Cherry holstered her handgun and dropped to the ground, slamming her palm down into it, a pillar of red fire shooting up around Beatrice. Before the Dius could even feel a surge of victory, however, Beatrice shrugged the flames off and guided the hoops back to her hands, saying coldly: "You're worthless at using your powers!"

The muscular demoness snarled, then tore her chain whip off her back, snapping it out to the side before she threw the sword forwards... and Beatrice grinned coldly as she rose a hoop, the sword flying through the center of it before she spun the ring rapidly, snagging the chain and catching the weapon tightly as she threw her other hoop outwards. Cherry only knocked it away with a lash of her chain whip, however, then she grasped the chain of the other weapon and yanked hard, stumbling Beatrice before she lashed viciously downwards with her whip.

It cut a thin slice through the female's stomach, and Beatrice's eyes flashed before she threw her other hoop forwards, the chain rapidly shrinking as the sword spun violently with the hoop's movements as it flew towards Cherry's face. The Dius cursed, her eyes focusing before she snatched the hoop and sword out of the air at the same moment, and with a flex of her fingers and a twist of her wrist, the hoop shattered and fell in pieces to the ground, and she readjusted her grip on the handle of the sword as Beatrice snarled furiously at her.

Cherry grinned cockily even as the broken hoop burst into blue flames, watching the other metal ring spin back to Beatrice's hand. The two glared at each other for a moment, Beatrice's eyes seeming to dare Cherry to say something... and the Dius did after another second, snapping her whip at her side as she said haughtily: "Now it looks like you're the one who's worthless, mommy-darling. You better stop your fuckin' showboating, it's getting pretty boring... I've seen all your stupid hoop tricks, after all."

"I'll kill you, Cynthia." Beatrice said coldly, and a shiver ran through Cherry's body before Beatrice tossed her hoop in the air, raising her muzzle as it fell to catch the metal ring around her neck before she snapped her hands out, and this time, spiked metal rings burst into life, these ones wrapped in ivy-like barbed wire as well. Beatrice's eyes glowed blue, and Cherry snarled and set herself as the Incarnation whispered: "You can think about how you should treat your mother better while down in Hell."

"You deserve the respect you earn!" Cherry shouted angrily, then she winced as Beatrice threw both of the deadly spiked hoops forwards, ducking under one and knocking the other away with the sword... but it recovered much faster than the other hoops, spinning in close and ripping a thin slice along Cherry's cheek even as she twisted her head to the side.

She sensed the other hoop spinning in towards her back as Beatrice charged forwards, pulling her plain hoop free from around her neck as it burst into blue flames... and Cherry ran to meet her before leaping high and forwards, Beatrice looking surprised before Cherry's boot kicked off her face and she arched her back, flipping gracefully through the air as the spiked hoop shot beneath her.

Beatrice stumbled... then gasped and leaned forwards, eyes bulging and the other spiked hoop falling out of the air as the one that had tried to follow Cherry's movements struck into her own stomach. Cherry stared in shock as she landed... and then she snarled and lashed her sword forwards, but Beatrice halted the flying blade in midair with a glare, her expression turning cold again as the spiked hoops vanished and reappeared beside her, floating slowly in the air as she straighted, no wound visible. "So you really don't care... in that case... die."

Beatrice rose a hand, and Cherry's own whip snapped around her leg, wrapping tight and ripping through her pants and deep into her scales, the demoness howling in pain before the Great Diviner snapped backwards and tore through her chest, the chain of the weapon lengthening as it snapped up over her shoulders and around her head. A moment later, both spiked hoops collided into Cherry's stomach, grinding into her body and trying to spin as the demoness vomited blood, then screamed in agony as Beatrice only smiled coldly, licking her muzzle slowly... before she frowned as the blade of the sword Cherry was wielding pulsed slowly, glowing with power.

Cherry's eyes opened, and she stared at the ground as a tear fell, watching as it struck the roof of the building... before she murmured: "Sisters... is that why..." A long pause, and then she looked slowly up towards Beatrice before she grinned coldly. "Some psychic you are."

Beatrice frowned... then staggered backwards as Cherry straightened with a roar, the spiked rings shooting out of her body as a shockwave of light tore out from her body, her whip unwrapping itself and the sword flying free, the chain untangling from around her form. She caught the blade's handle, then charged forwards despite the wounds ripped into her body, and Beatrice rose a hand, trying to throw her backwards with a telekinetic blast...

Cherry snapped the sword forwards and cut Beatrice's hand cleanly in half, and the female screamed before Cherry lashed her across the body with her whip and snapped hard back down, stumbling the Incarnation before leaping forwards and slamming her boot in a straight kick into Beatrice's stomach, knocking her flat. The psychic immediately snarled, trying to crawl backwards... but Cherry snapped the hook at the end of her whip down into her mother's shoulder, and the Incarnation howled before choking as Cherry leapt forwards and stabbed the blade through her heart, leaning down over her face with a snarl and saying coldly: "I don't need you... I have a real family in my life now, not just the Sisters but my father, Zerrex... and if it's the last thing I do, I'll kill you here today, you whore!"

Beatrice's eyes bulged... and then she turned to blue flames that snaked along the ground and reformed, the female squatting and snarling as she bled heavily from several large gashes in her body, including a deep wound over her heart. She stood slowly, head bowed... and then whispered: "I want to see the world in flames... I want to see everyone dying and hurt... I want to see the universe blink out of existence... and if it's the last thing I do, I will help my master achieve these ends, even if he's been exiled forever. And the last person to stand in my way will be you, Cynthia, my foolish, weakling daughter..."

Beatrice looked up with a snarl... and then she flexed, her arms going out to either side as blue fire burst up over her body. The very air seemed to tremble as hoops came into being around her body, and Cherry counted no less than thirty protecting her, all of them spinning and gyrating around her form in a dome before they formed into several lines on either side of the Incarnation. They all burned with terrible blue fire, and Beatrice's eyes glowed with the same unnatural light as she screamed: "Come and try to stop me, Cynthia!"

Cherry snarled, setting herself as she rose the sword in one hand and the whip in the other, the chain lengthening slightly to give her a bit more slack to work with as new memories not her own and incantions twisted through her head, feeling new power running through her body, connected to the Sisters... I am their Eldest Sister now... I'm the Fifth created by the Goddess... I am... goddammit, concentrate! "You're all fucking talk!"

The Dius stepped forwards, throwing the sword towards her mother... but Beatrice knocked it aside with a psychokinetic blast, blue fire consuming the sword for a moment before Cherry grasped the now-long chain and spun the sword over her head in a wide helicopter, the wide arc knocking two hoops Beatrice fired towards her daughter away. More hoops shot forwards, and Cherry spun the chain-sword around herself as she twisted the whip around her body at the same time. She hopped to the side, her feet touching lightly against the ground as she knocked hoops flying while others shot around her body, explosions of blue fire lighting up the air before Beatrice created a pair of jagged blades in her hands, a handle in the center of the weapon and lightning-shaped sword blades on either end, leaving little room for grip â€" or error.

Beatrice charged forwards, and the blades spun like windmills in her hands as hoops consumed with blue fire continued to shoot around the two, and Cherry snarled as she snapped her hand back, the sword returning to her grip as she knocked a hoop away with a flick of her wrist at the same time, doing her best to ignore another that skinned lightly over her back. At the same time, she concentrated, and her spirit seemed to lift out of her body, giving her a third-person view from the side.

She spun her whip around her body, then slashed the gladius in her hand downwards as Beatrice lashed both double-ended swords up at her, deflecting the blows before Cherry backed quickly away as Beatrice stabbed viciously forwards with both weapons several times, matching her movements in time with her attack rhythm and forcing Cherry to back off extremely quickly as hoops began to dive down at her back. At the same time, however, she was lashing her whip behind her in practiced arcs with one hand, while she deflected blow-after-blow from the front before Beatrice knocked her flying with a telekinetic blast.

At least ten hoops followed up, spinning towards her as Cherry winced and still attempted to deflect them in midair with her sword, but several of the hoops still managed to crash into her, leaving deep, ugly burns on her scales from the blue fire as they bounced off her muscular form. She landed on the toes of her feet a moment later, skidding backwards and falling forwards onto her hands before cursing as Beatrice leaned forwards and released a long gout of blue fire from her maw, more hoops continuing to shoot in towards her as Cherry looked over her shoulder at the edge of the rooftop.

An incantation tore its way through her mind, and Cherry winced before shouting it, then covered her face as a massive blast of wind shot by, strong enough to stumble her... but blowing the psychic fire to bits and sending the hoops flying at her spiraling uselessly through the air, Beatrice cursing angrily and gripping at her burned muzzle from across the roof. Cherry took the opportunity to charge forwards as the windstorm ended, but Beatrice immediately glared at her, and Cherry exploded into blue flames, flying backwards with a howl of pain to land on her back and skid several feet, whip flying free from her hand.

Beatrice began to walk towards her, and Cherry shook her head, covered in burns but snarling furiously before she leapt to her feet, and her eyes glowed violently as Beatrice frowned... before a massive, dark explosion ripped the air around her, and the Incarnation flew backwards, covered in black fire as Cherry shouted angrily: "You aren't the only one who can do that trick, bitch!"

The other female shivered violently on the ground, then picked herself slowly up, still burning with dark fire as energy sizzled through the air around her; the flames vanished a moment later, but the dark lightning shocked over her body again as she stepped forwards, and Beatrice panted hard, gripping at the now-ragged wound in her chest... and Cherry stared before stepping forwards on instinct and throwing the sword as hard as she could. It tore through the air, and a moment later crashed through Beatrice's hand and tore into her heart... and Beatrice convulsed once, twitching violently and gagging before she fell to her knees, whispering: "Yes... this is the way it should be."

Without warning, her body exploded in a blast of blue fire, and a psychic roar tore through the air as Cherry was thrown from the rooftop in flames, hurtling through the air before she crashed onto a humvee some fifty feet away and bounced hard enough to leave a massive dent in it, then landed hard in a jeep with a groan on top of a pile of equipment before her whip shot past her head and crashed into the ground.

Her vision was blurry, and her body was bleeding and smoldering as soldiers screamed and panicked, blue fire and lightning cracking through the air as the roof collapsed inwards, massive chunks of stone and metal falling free from the building before Cherry let her head roll back and stared in horror as a blood-covered Beatrice grabbed her by the neck and threw her out of the jeep, dragging her to the ground and screaming as she rose a double-ended sword... and Cherry drew her magnum and screamed back, blasting round after round into the demoness's face and chest.

Beatrice staggered backwards with every shot that buried into her, blood splattering from her ripped-apart body, and then Cherry leapt to her feet, finding strength through the agony, feeding off her own terror as she dropped the gun and drew its twin sibling, emptying the rest of that clip into her mother as tears flowed down her face, a few rounds going wild and one tearing through the Incarnation's lithe, wounded forearm to simply knock it off, the sword flying from it before she looked down at the sword hanging loosely from the chain on her arm, and she snapped it up to her hand before running towards Beatice with a howl.

The Incarnation's bruised, bloody, and burnt-into-a-permanently-snarling face looked at Cherry with surprise, her one remaining eye glowing before Cherry swung forwards at neck level and cut Beatrice's head off, and body and skull burst into blue fire almost immediately. By the time her head hit the ground, it had already turned into nothing more than a rotten black mess... but Cherry could only stare in horror as a glowing blue hand reached out of the remains, and Beatrice pushed herself slowly upwards and outwards. The spirit looked down at her hands for a moment... then glared at Cherry before looking back and forth and seizing the nearest objects she could with her telekinetic powers: a transport truck that floated eerily off the ground, and a pair of medium-sized battle tanks that floated high into the air, twisting and gyrating slowly as both demons and soldiers panicked and ran in terror.

Cherry stared in shock as Beatrice began to rear back... and before she knew what she was doing, she stabbed the sword forwards into Beatrice's chest, and the spirit cringed and grabbed the sword, struggling to push it back out. Cherry only held it in place, however, snarling and shoving her other hand on the hilt before she looked into Beatrice's eyes and muttered the same incantation she'd used on Ezekiel.

Beatrice's eyes bulged, and she shook her head in denial before screaming and floating backwards as her spirit burnt up like paper and fell to dust, her last look a vile, hateful glare at Cherry as the transport truck keeled over on its side and the tanks fell out of the air with a loud crash, and Cherry dropped the sword, falling to her knees with a wailing yell as she batted away the pile of ashes that had been her mother, sending it up in a faintly-blue swirl as she screamed: "Why does it all have to be so hard?"

She clenched her eyes shut and pushed her hands against the ground as she remembered there was no God to hear her, just as there was no Satan to even laugh at her or spite... and she began to punch the ground over and over again before a tired voice said: "Still throwing temper tantrums, are we? I thought that was Marina's thing these days."

Cherry looked over her shoulder in shock, and then she threw herself at Zerrex, hugging him tightly and sending the Drakkaren staggering backwards with a wince, and a moment later he hugged her tightly back, murmuring quietly: "I'm sorry about Beatrice. I know what it's like... I... we'll get through this."

She glanced up at him, then grinned a bit, looking over his body before slapping his tattooless bicep with a frown, clearing her throat and trying to change the subject as she mumbled: "So uh... how the hell did you get in this body? Don't tell me there's another Ravenlight project going on?"

"Worse... they've built a clone army based around Narrius with animal-level intelligence, and they've got several other bioweapons on the go." Zerrex made a face, rubbing at a large cut along his arm as he looked back and forth, then he rubbed his bloody hands together. "And the soldiers out here might be panicked, but there's plenty of demons inside the facility who aren't... but where are the others?"

Cherry frowned a bit, then she shoved him lightly and asked quietly: "How the hell do I know you aren't a shapeshifter, though?"

"I thought... you Dius could see through shapeshifting." Zerrex said slowly, frowning back and poking her shoulder suspiciously. "How do I know that you aren't the shapeshifter, trying out the old ‘I bet you're the spy' ruse to distract attention from yourself for the moment, just like in that stupid movie about the aliens."

Cherry looked at him blankly for a moment, then she rolled her eyes and muttered: "Yeah, that's definitely you. Come on, we're sitting ducks out here, and these soldiers are bound to organize and start shooting at us soon enough."

"Yeah, except you apparently didn't notice that the top floor of the building just exploded and they're all scared out of their minds." Zerrex responded sourly as Cherry ran towards a side door of the building, and then he made a face as the soldiers by the door shakily rose their weapons, saying mildly: "Point taken." A pause as Cherry threw her sword forwards and through the stomach of a guard, and the other fled with a scream of terror. "But my counterpoint proven."

"Shut up and move your ass." Cherry replied with a faint grin over her shoulder, before she skidded to a halt and cursed, raising a hand to him and sprinting back towards the jeep. Zerrex rolled his eyes as he opened the doors, stepping into the facility and clotheslining an unlucky soldier that was running by before snagging him in midair and shoving him down into the ground. As the soldier spasmed, he then picked up the assault rifle the soldier was carrying, glancing it over and tearing the clips off his belt to shove into the pocket of his pants as Cherry came back with her whip in hand and sword attached to the manacle.

She looked embarrassedly at him, adjusting her belt where the .52s had been reholstered, and she mumbled: "I promised to take good care of these, and look at me, dropping them constantly and messing them up. Anyway, cheer me the fuck up, tell me about how Hell treated you and such, you prick."

"You're a prick." Zerrex said sourly, and Cherry leered at him before he rolled his eyes and jerked his head, leading her into the facility and raising the assault rifle to his shoulder, holding it at the ready as skills he hadn't used for some hundreds of thousands of years slowly began to unrust. "Anyway, it wasn't exactly the vacation spot you described for me..."

"Did you get plenty of bitches?" Cherry asked mildly, then she nodded as the reptile glanced at her, and Zerrex spun out of the corner, the gun raised before he fired two bursts into a group of soldiers huddled at an intersection, and they yelled and quickly broke apart as several of them fell, one of the soldiers snagging a wounded comrade and dragging him away as Zerrex winced and leapt back behind the corner, a hail of bullets raining towards them as Cherry muttered: "Shit, they're not demoralized enough."

"I've been working on this for a little while." Zerrex said mildly, and then he paused, adding absently as he created a sphere of blue energy: "And I actually got married. Twice."

Cherry gaped at him, then stared as Zerrex threw the sphere at the wall opposite... and the blue energy struck the surface hard before bouncing straight down the hall to where the soldiers were dug-in, and it exploded the moment it struck a second solid surface, knocking several of them flying and sending the rest of the group fleeing. Zerrex glanced to Cherry, but she was still staring stupidly at him, and the reptile shrugged mildly. "Well, the punchline is that one of the chicks I married was Selena."

"Cleo?" Cherry howled, her eyes bulging, and then she began to beat on the Drakkaren wildly with her fists, and Zerrex yelled and ran out into the hallway, Cherry snarling and chasing him as she continued to punch and berate him: "You son of a bitch, what the fuck is wrong with you? Oh my fuck, I'm going to kick your stupid ass! What the fuck? Just what the fuck, seriously!"

Zerrex shot straight into the wall at the end of the intersection, and he fell over with a groan of pain before Cherry kicked him a few times. Zerrex curled up in a ball and she huffed, bouncing from foot-to-foot and looking infuriated before kicking a fallen assault rifle to her hands and firing wildly down the hallway, doors slamming and the soldiers that had been peering out from the corner immediately ducking back with loud yells of ‘retreat!' "I'm gonna beat you like... like... like I'm beating off to really good porn!"

"I love you?" Zerrex mumbled, wincing up at her, and Cherry looked further frustrated before moodily throwing the assault rifle away. She glanced over her shoulder at a soldier attempting to sneak up on her with a shotgun, and she spun around with a grimace, ripping it out of his hands before slapping him across the face with the handle, then slamming the butt of the weapon into his nose as she spun it around, pumping the weapon rapidly to eject the shells loaded into it and pulling the trigger at the soldier as she yelled inarticulately at him.

The soldier fainted, and Zerrex wished dumbly that he could trade places with him, and then Cherry turned around and kicked him in the crotch, and Zerrex groaned loudly and fell against the wall, looking miserable as she muttered: "Dude, Boss, like... you're gonna take me on a date and buy me flowers and shit to make up for this later on, you got that? That's just not cool."

"You just kicked me in the balls, that's what isn't cool here." Zerrex muttered in return, then he straightened and winced, adding sulkily: "A congratulations would be nice, too, you know. I had to take down Hell's entire monarchy by myself."

Cherry only stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at him, then Zerrex rolled his eyes and moodily turned around, wandering off down the other hallway. Cherry winced a bit, rubbing the back of her head, then toddled after him before bouncing up beside him and asking curiously: "So what about your other wifey, huh? She a good lay? Or you know, at least not a world-class cunt?"

Zerrex only continued to look grouchy, however, and Cherry tried clinging to his arm, grinning up at him brightly as she gave a very-appreciable view of her cleaveage up to him... but Zerrex huffed and turned his head away, ejecting the clip from the rifle to check the rounds over and only counting enough left for one last burst. He tossed it away, then slammed another clip in as he resolutely kept his eyes away from her, and Cherry groaned and flailed her arms a bit, looking up at him morbidly. "Oh come on, I was upset! But now I'm curious, come on, let's be curious together and not all... poopy."

The Drakkaren grumbled, raising his rifle to his shoulder, and Cherry glowered at him, then crossed her arms and huffed, berating herself silently before leaning against him... and finally, Zerrex sighed and wrapped an arm around her, and she brightened a bit, saying cheerfully: "So tell me about the other bitch! I ain't calling either of them ‘mommy,' by the way."

Her own words sent a painful twang through her, but Cherry ignored it for now, shoving Beatrice out of her mind as Zerrex shrugged a bit, saying mildly: "Her name is Lilith... she became the High Princess and sole monarch of Hell after I killed the Princess. Originally she wanted me just for kids, but... things changed. I met her my first day in Hell, just like I did Selena."

"Fucking Cleo. I still can't fucking say her name." Cherry muttered, looking brooding for a moment before she paused as something clicked in her head. "Wait. That means you're like... the unnamed King of Hell, doesn't it?"

"Shut up." Zerrex looked morbid again as he kicked in a pair of double-doors, and Cherry grinned brightly before her eyes widened and she grabbed Zerrex's arm, jerking him backwards as she shouted one the words the reptile hated most to hear. Oh crap.

A moment later, the wolf demon Zerrex had fought with earlier jumped out of a room ahead of them and threw a grenade at them, and Zerrex created a barrier of energy with a wince in front of the doors as they half-swung closed before both were blown off their hinges, flying into the glowing blue shield and cracking it. They fell to the side, and the wolf beyond cursed irritably before Zerrex let the shield drop, raising the assault rifle and flicking it to full-automatic as he opened up into the lupine's back.

It sent him down in a sprawl with a howl of pain, and then the gun jammed as Zerrex cursed before tossing it aside and running forwards, Cherry running beside him with a grin of exhilaration as the wolf climbed to his feet, then yelped in shock as Zerrex tackled him and smashed his face into the ground before wrapping his arms tight around his neck, and he snapped it in one easy motion before the wolf could even begin to babble.

He slumped forwards... then coughed raggedly several times before beginning to flail once more, and Zerrex's eyes narrowed as the wolf's eyes turned dead black, glaring over his shoulder angrily. "Just wait, Lord Zerrex... I'm going to rip you apart, piece-by-piece..."

"He's Possessed." Cherry said mildly after a moment, then she looked at him pointedly. "And I can't exorcize him because you're here... so... much as I don't like to suggest it, would you like to do the honors?"

Zerrex frowned for a moment... then he nodded with a sigh and reached down, focusing as he closed his eyes and snagged the energy of the demon inside the wolf Initiate, before yanking hard... and cursing as the lupine flailed and screamed beneath him in terror. He was a lot harder to drag out than the other demons he could remember doing this to, however... possibly because he's a demon possessing another demon's body...

A moment later, Zerrex was ripping out the spirit of a Wentaku, and the Drakkaren made a face before closing his eyes and focusing, determined to get it right this time as he tore the spirit upwards and snarled, concentrating and shoving his energy up into his body... and a moment later, the spirit exploded into pieces in his hand with a howl of pain and slowly faded from existence, and the Drakkaren relaxed with a sigh as he looked towards Cherry. "I didn't absorb it that time."

"I got that from the fact he exploded." Cherry said mildly, and Zerrex glanced away lamely before she slapped him on the shoulder and stood up, then made a face at the sound of something crashing loudly at the end of the hall, muttering under her breath: "Wonderful. We should pull out and just blow this whole place up with a bomb."

"Alright, excuse me a moment while I radio the waiting planes." Zerrex said dryly, and Cherry made a face at him as he stood up, looking back and forth down the hall at the sound of several other loud bangs outside. "I can't tell who's calling the shots here, even though I haven't seen any major demons other than... the one you took care of... and what the hell are they attacking outside, Reia?"

"No, I told her to retreat out of here... but I got a few demon buddies causing havoc and leading the troops away from the base, plus the troops seem pretty terrified of whatever the hell is inside here escaping... so we should probably meet up with the other girls double-quick and get our asses gone." Cherry shook her head a bit, frowning a bit as she looked down and murmured: "And Beatrice was something else... if... the sword hadn't awoken certain memories..."

She paused, then glanced up at the Drakkaren, asking quietly: "You knew somehow, didn't you?" She smiled a bit, reaching up and poking his nose. "Fuck you, Boss. You play your cards too damn close to your chest. I mean, would it kill you to share a bit of info with me every now and then?"

"Well, that would just ruin all the fun." Zerrex said mildly in return, smiling slightly as he reached up to pat her cheek gently, and then the two glanced towards the end of the hallway as a door opened and several demons in bloody uniforms staggered through, only for several snarling Dragokkaren to leap free of the doorway and pounce on one of them as the other ran past the two in terror, Zerrex trading a look with Cherry as he added darkly: "I think some of the monsters just escaped their quarantine, by the way."

"No shit." Cherry made a face as several more of the Dragokkaren stalked their way through the door on all fours, snarling and glaring as three others dug into the corpses, biting with jaws strong enough to tear through the composite armor like it was nothing and crack bones like plastic, chewing and swallowing unmindful of whatever they got as they nudged and barked at each other. "What do you suggest, Boss? These things are acting like pack animals..."

"Fire." Zerrex said mildly, and Cherry nodded before snapping her whip with a yell and sending out a short wave of flame, and one of the Dragokkaren reared back as the others only snarled and roared in return, and the reptile cursed under his breath, reaching up to touch his forehead and searching his memory. Savage Cubbas... Narrius-Cubbas... what... I... "Watch it!"

Zerrex stepped forwards, muttering a quick incantation and waving his hand to the side, and a bolt of white energy shot down into the ground, electricity sparking along the floor and sending two of the Cubbas scrambling backwards with a series of barks and snarls. Cherry blinked in surprise as he pulled her backwards, and then he opened a side door and ran through it into an empty weights room, Cherry following him and kicking the door closed behind her before wincing as one of the Cubbas threw himself against the other side, cracking the frame. "Boss, that ain't gonna hold them for long!"

"It doesn't need to." Zerrex muttered as he touched along the wall, then he concentrated on the brick and mumbled an incantation, sending a series of cracks spiraling through the stone wall and metal beneath before simply ramming his shoulder through it to crash into the room beyond, motioning for Cherry to follow. She did, making a face, and she slid through the wall to join Zerrex in a short hallway barred off on either side by heavy shutters.

They made their way next through another smaller door, both of them squeezing into a kitchen area littered with food that had been thrown all over the floor and Gluttons currently gorging themselves, and the two carefully ignored these demons as they slid by them, before the demoness shook her head as Zerrex approached a door. "Dude, you would not like the visions I'm getting of what happens if you open that. Try the side door."

"Wonderful." Zerrex did so, peering through it... and he made a face, looking out into another hallway. "This place is like a goddamn maze... it's just another hall, likely on the other side of the emergency shutters... what's even the point of having a security shutter if you're going to leave a way around?"

"Duh, I dunno? Wait, can everyone break down walls?" Cherry gave him a grin and smacked a limp hand against her chest a few times, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out, and one of the Gluttons chuffled laughter, the demoness immediately nodding seriously and jerking her thumb over her shoulder at him. "See, he gets it."

"You're... stupid." Zerrex mumbled, then he stepped out into the hallway and headed quickly down it, adding dryly: "And you're also taking point, because I'm apparently stuck in the role of spellcaster until I pick up another gun."

Cherry snorted, making a face at this and checking the handguns... but with both of them out of ammo, it wasn't like either would be much use. Zerrex watched her, but then she finally grinned stupidly and offered her chain whip, saying cheerfully: "I'll just stay a good few feet back, you know, for safety reasons."

"Cherry, I can't use this." The Drakkaren said embarrassedly, taking the whip from her and making a face: he wasn't exactly the most graceful or talented in this kind of weapon, after all... and whereas he could still lash it about... "I'm going to like, hit you in the face or something. I thought we had a silent agreement about me not using this weapon, in fact."

"Well, I can see far enough into the future that I should have time to duck. And like I said, I'll keep back a safe-distance... besides, look at you, all hulking and sexy and shit. You should be up front, covered in blood and ick and mess and ready for a good fuck to relax at the end of the day instead of wandering around getting all your pronounciations wrong at the back of the pack." Cherry said eloquently, and Zerrex gave her a sour look as she grinned and shrugged a bit, absently snapping the sword back against the manacle. "What? Besides, I'm all beaten up and shit. I'm in no shape to take point, a stiff wind'll knock me over."

Zerrex rolled his eyes... then groaned when Cherry cackled stupidly. "Ha! Stiff." A pause, and then she slid carefully over to Zerrex, pushing him forwards as she leaned down and leered up at him. "Come on, I'm almost done mastering the rift spell, meaning I can go back and forth between Hell and the mortal plane whenever I like, you know... so like... I'll be your personal interdimensional chauffeur and get what I'm sure must be an absolutely-adorable demon form up here if you behave yourself, Boss..."

"I'm not adorable." Zerrex mumbled, but his usual moodiness was lost as he stared down at her, asking slowly: "And are you serious about the whole portal thing? I mean, that's a high-level spell..."

"Dude, I can fucking teleport." Cherry said proudly, straightening and crossing her arms with a grin, then she closed her eyes, pursing her mouth and mumbling under her breath before vanishing from sight and reappearing less than a foot away, throwing her arms wide with a grin... and Zerrex looked at her flatly for a few moments before she sulked and mumbled: "If you knew how much work that took, you'd be impressed. You douchebag."

"Do you need a hug?" Zerrex asked mildly, and Cherry looked back and forth awkwardly before mumbling and shuffling forwards, and she and Zerrex exchanged a tight embrace before an explosion shook the facility and he made a face, muttering: "But alright... enough wasting our time, Cherry. We need to find the girls and get out of here, fast. I didn't think there were so many soldiers in this base... and it sounds like either the girls or someone else is trying to bring this place down around our heads..."

Cherry nodded, looking embarrassed even as she tried to maintain a more-professional look, and then she made a face as she fell in step after the Drakkaren, asking slowly: "Wait... how did the Narrius clones get out of wherever they were being kept, Boss?"

Zerrex frowned a bit, thinking of the massive hall filled with capsules and wondering how many of them had been occupied... and furthermore, how many of them had escaped by whatever means. "You know as well as I do... there's always something overlooked. But I think Marina would have short-circuited them... whereas..."

"Wait!" Cherry warned, and Zerrex skidded to a halt, barely saved from walking headfirst into a shutter as it slammed down in front of them. A moment later, a breathy voice filled the air around them, and the female snarled as she jerked her head up towards a speaker on the wall, asking crudely: "Is this really a worthwhile masturbation fantasy? ‘Cause I can take off my shirt if you need some help there, pervert."

"Cherry... and Prince Zerrex..." rasped a voice... and even after all these years, both of the then-mortals, now-demons snarled as they recognized the metallic, lunatic voice of Ultima, the computer system that had run Narrius's Paradise. "So good to see you two again! I was hoping we'd meet... the Master will be so pleased with me when he discovers I've turned you both to scrap!"

Zerrex snorted, then he drew back a hand and punched the shutter hard... but a series of demonic runes glowed over it the moment the Drakkaren touched the metal, sending him flying backwards into Cherry. She skidded backwards from the force of collision, but successfully caught the reptile, making a face before muttering to him: "Keep him distracted."

"What the hell!" Zerrex stormed immediately, and he shrugged Cherry off angrily as he looked back and forth for a camera, acting more frustrated than he glowered at the ceiling. "Where are you, Ultima? And what are you going to do here, this doesn't exactly seem like the most automated facility... there's countless Aztec-"

"The PMCs and the demons remaining here are worthless! They're only fodder for the Cubbas... and you'll be joining them next!" squealed Ultima, as several doors buzzed and clicked open. Zerrex winced as Cubbas prowled out of them, and Ultima cackled and screeched: "You can't kill me, Lord Zerrex! Even if you destroy my CPU, I'll still exist on the wireless network... I've already propagated throughout the entire world! Even if you somehow stop the Cubbas, you have already lost!"

"Zerrex, charge!" Cherry shouted over her shoulder in demonic, and the reptile ran towards the shutter without a moment's hesitantion, dropping his shoulder and this time succeeding in smashing it off its rails to send the large sheet of metal flying down the hall. The reptile skidded to a halt with a grin at Cherry, and the two nodded, ignoring Ultima's screams of rage as they both sprinted down the hall.

They skidded to a halt as a metal door was blown off its hinges, a demon flying through it to crash into the wall before several PMCs fled, screaming about regrouping... and Zerrex snatched a shotgun from the hands of the nearest by the body of the gun before he snapped it upwards, and it cracked the soldier under the jaw and knocked him flat. The reptile spun the weapon around against his shoulder, ejecting the shells into his other hand to count how many were in the weapon as Cherry spun and slashed her way through the others, and then she skidded to a halt and grinned widely, shouting: "Boss, I found the girls!"

"Good stuff." Zerrex nodded, following Cherry with a grin as he tossed the shotgun aside and the three shells, switching the chain whip back into his good hand as they walked into a large briefing room that had mostly been destroyed by the earlier battle, computers laying in ruins on the floor and the middle table laying in several shattered pieces, still trying to project a holographic image of the base. Zerrex's eyes settled on Cindy and Marina, and the last squeaked in joy and ran at him before the Drakkaren cleared his throat, and she skidded to a halt with a wince, nodding and only exchanging a quick, quiet hug with him.

Zerrex did the same with Cindy as she walked forwards, then he paused and shoved Cherry's whip into her hand as he pulled the long, thin blade off her back, glancing it over and saying curiously: "You... were using this?"

"I needed to be more like you while I led the girls around... that helped." Cindy said quietly, blushing and glancing down as she rubbed the back of her head slowly. "But... now I don't need that anymore." She glanced up at him, then murmured softly: "It's really good to see you, Daddy. I've been missing you."

He looked around at them all, from Cindy in her military clothes and torn flak jacket to Marina in her petite schoolgirl's uniform, and Cherry somewhere in the middle... and then he made a disgusted face as the sprinkler system turned on above and water poured down around them, another alarm beginning to blare in the distance as the reptile said grimly: "We need to find where they're keeping the main computer and destroy both it and the security systems surrounding it. Did you girls get any intel on the area?"

"On it." Marina glanced down and to the side, closing her eyes and taking a breath before nodding, saying quietly: "Third floor, Secure Quadrant in the Eastern Section, somewhere above us. But the stairways and elevators have all been shut down."

Zerrex made a distasteful face, and Marina smiled brightly as she bounced from foot-to-foot, saying lovingly: "Don't be silly, Daddy, there's no problem in getting up there!" She turned and rose a hand, and the ceiling above shuddered before cracking apart to their right, Zerrex and the other girls backing away quickly before several heavy metal crates fell through the damaged flooring, crashing to the ground and rolling in every direction as one of them split open and spilled food all over the floor.

Water poured down out of the opening, a cracked pipe hanging loose as the sprinklers at least began to lose their nastiness, and Zerrex made a face at the ragged hole in the ceiling before Cherry strode forwards and leapt easily up through it, landing on the edge of the lip before she leaned down and said loudly: "Clear! It's the second floor storeroom, ain't nothing in here."

Zerrex nodded, hopping up onto one of the metal crates before motioning to Marina and Cindy. He slid backwards a bit, making a step with his hands, and Cindy gracefully made her way upwards before Marina asked for a bit more help... and gave him a lecherous look when he glanced up and caught sight of her scantily-clad nether regions. She pulled herself slowly up a few moments later, and Zerrex made another face before snagging Cindy's sword and grunting as he jumped up through the opening, landing neatly beside Cherry as Cindy tapped quickly at the keypad inside the storeroom.

"It's been completely locked down, we'll have to break it down if we want to get through it." Cindy said after a moment, making a face and shaking her head slowly as she drew away from the panel, looking distasteful. "If I tamper with the wires, I'll just close another shutter over the damned thing. There's nothing but food in here, though."

"And most soldiers aren't as disciplined as we are." Cherry muttered, glancing around the room with a mumble before brightening as her eyes caught on a vent in the floor, saying cheerfully as she dropped flat and peered through it. "But look at this, we have some air circulation here... Zerrex, be a sport and come over here and do that wall trick, huh? That was fuckin' A."

Zerrex looked at her morbidly before touching along the wall, and then he sighed and put his hand against it, muttering the incantation and sending cracks spiraling out through the wall before it split apart, chunks of stone falling to the ground as he looked down at Cherry, who was laying on her back now and grinning up at him... and he frowned slowly, asking curiously: "Why are you dry?"

"Because I can dodge water particles." Cherry responded seriously, then winced at Zerrex's glare. "Because I can heat my body up really really high?"

"Dry me off, I'm miserable even though I can barely feel the water." Zerrex said mildly, flailing his arms and sending out a good amount of water over both Cindy and Marina. "Plus my hair is sopping wet and it keeps getting in my eyes."

"What do I look like to you, your personal blow-dryer?" Cherry asked impetuously, and she put her hands on her hips before leeting at him. "Although I certainly wouldn't mind blowing you, now that we're on the subject..."

Zerrex rolled his eyes and squeezed through the crack he'd made in the wall, stepping out into a narrow hallway... and a moment later an angel collided with him, forcing him to the ground and seizing him by the neck as it began an exorcism. Zerrex immediately began to wrestle and buck, his eyes glowing green as he felt a horrible pain wracking his body... and then Cherry interrupted as she snagged the angel's shoulders and threw him hard down the hall with a graceful twist of her form, snapping a magnum out a moment later to fire the last few shots in the clip rapidly into the cloaked bear's body.

It howled and covered its face as the bullets pounded into its head and chest, wings attempting to flap uselessly in the hallway before Cherry threw her sword forwards, and the blade pierced through the creature's chest. It grunted and flexed, leaning forwards as its eyes bulged, and a moment later the angel exploded in a blast of golden light and white feathers as Cherry snapped the sword back to her hand, catching it and spinning it rapidly at her side as she grinned widely.

Zerrex picked himself slowly off the ground, the glow fading from his eyes as he made a face and rubbed at his head, and immediately Cindy and Marina were on either side of him, the two looking over him with concerned frowns before Marina whispered: "Daddy, your mind is sealed closed, I can't get into it..."

"Sorry, it's... a long story." The Drakkaren said after a moment, as Cindy touched over his chest quietly, feeling for his vitals as he glanced down at her with a faint smile. "And you aren't going to find much of anything, Cindy... I'm only possessing this body, it's not like I'm actual here... at least, not yet."

She nodded, then glanced nervously behind them as Cherry strolled forwards, yelling and shouting at the terrified PMCs at the end of the long, narrow hallway. Zerrex made a face, following Cherry quickly and grasping her shoulder as he lowered his head, muttering: "Maybe you should be a bit more, I dunno, withdrawn? They're probably radioing for help as we speak."

Cherry grunted and shrugged, then rose a handgun and fired a bullet of flame out of it, blasting a radio out of the hand of a soldier as he rose it towards his ears, and then she grinned widely, leering up at him. "Now you can't say that wasn't cool, with them like... being stick figures at the end of the hallway, and me like... channeling shit through the guns and shit."

"Demons." Zerrex said mildly, as a door opened and several soldiers ran out... and then an arm tore through the floor in front of them, and the demons skidded to a halt and retreated as Zerrex stared in horror, looking over his shoulder at Marina and asking urgently: "Nearest way up?"

"Through the barracks two doors ahead, there's a private elevator for the officers in the next room over." Marina said quickly, and Zerrex nodded as a Cubba shoved its head through the hole in the floor, growling and snarling. The male quickly led his daughters forwards, shouldering through the door in front of the small hole as the Cubba began to scrabble at it and tear it wider, and the Drakkaren immediately rose the long, double-edged sword in front of himself as his eyes narrowed, PMCs throwing bunks over to hide behind them as a Cyclops armed with a mace charged towards him.

Zerrex stabbed hard forwards through its eye, and it fell backwards with a howl of agony as the Drakkaren stepped into a long sweep into the closest bunk, cutting it into two pieces. He kicked one of these hard at a makeshift barricade a PMC was hiding behind, and it knocked it flat, one of the PMCs firing wildly into the ceiling and wall behind himself as he was thrown onto his back with a yell.

Marina shoved the other bunk backwards with enough force to knock both PMCs hiding behind it flying, and Cindy took aim at a third as she ran towards the door, waiting for a soldier to raise his head a bit too high before shooting into the top of the overturned bunk, splattering him with wooden splinters and charring his face in the explosion, sending him down with a scream. The PMCs began to rapidly back off as other doors opened and demonic soldiers charged in, grinning and squalling Gore Devils leaping over the rows of bunks as minotaurs and draconic demons with robotic limbs barreled towards the small group.

Cherry threw the Great Diviner forwards, then she grabbed the chain in both hands and spun the it in a short screwing motion, the blade at the end of the magical chain spinning in a violent circle as it continued forwards through several Gore Devils. As demons quickly leapt out of the way of the blade, Cherry whipped the weapon to the side, then grabbed higher-up the chain with her other hand and jerked it back, twisting the sword back in the other direction to tear through the legs of a minotaur as well.

Zerrex ran forwards to meet a draconic demon with a large metal claw at the end of a skeletal robotic arm, this weapon sparking with electricity, and he ducked under a swipe from it before stepping forwards into a hard forwards cut, chopping it in half and straightening with the blade still held out at his side, waiting for a Gore Devil to leap at him before he flicked the sword hard, splattering blood over the short creature's face. It howled, skidding to a halt as it grabbed at its distorted features, and Zerrex stepped forwards and punted it back into a minotaur's head, knocking them both sprawling.

He turned as Marina laughed, the female dodging easily back and forth as three Gore Devils leapt at her, yelling and shrieking as they flailed at their air with their hooked blades, before a fourth ran towards her along the ceiling... and Marina grinned cruelly as she rose a hand, snagging the unlucky ambusher in a telekinetic hold and throwing him down into his comrades with enough psychic force to liquefy two of them and rip off the arm of a third. Immediately, the last turned and fled with a howl of terror, and Marina picked up one of the hooked swords, slicing the head off the wounded Gore Devil groggily staggering and clawing at the stump of an arm it had left.

"We're taking too long!" Cindy shouted, and she took aim with her grenade launcher at the closest door, firing several rounds into it to blow it to pieces before holstering the weapon and snapping the chain whip out, lashing a draconic demon across the legs with the weapon before knocking it unconscious with a hard blow to its skull from her elbow, shouting: "We need to move, Daddy, those monsters could break through at any time!"

Zerrex nodded, running for the door, and the others fell into line behind him, Cherry spinning the Great Diviner violently around her body and shoulders as she approached last, twisting the chain around her, then spinning gracefully on the spot to untangle the chain from around her form, until she finally caught it and blew a kiss to the closest demons, her eyes glowing as the three trembled, then turned on their former compatriots, sending chaos up through the ranks as she spun around with a grin... then she stared. "Oh, fuck that."

They had gone through the wrong door and into the locker room instead, and nymphs made of water were currently dancing gleefully through the open shower area beyond. Zerrex was currently stabbing along the ceiling, trying to find a weak point... but it didn't look much like there was one to be exploited, the female making a disgusted face as she asked: "So like, we've got maybe half a minute to vanish..."

Zerrex glared at her, then he stepped into the open showers... and the nymphs immediately began to dance around him, whispering to him as the reptile approached the wall and felt along it for water damage. He paused, pushing his hand against the brick, and then one of the nymphs whispered: "Bring the Fifth Sister here..."

"Cherry, get your ass over here." Zerrex shouted, and the Dius made a face before daintily stepping into the showers, then wincing as the nymphs pranced through the water and over to her, the liquid-made creatures leaning in... and her eyes widened in surprise, tilting her head forwards even as Marina began to use her powers to rip lockers out of place and pile them in the doorway, Cindy ripping up the short benches and throwing those in the way as well even as demons began to crash against the other side. Zerrex frowned a bit, wondering what to do... and then Cherry grinned and jerked her head to the side.

Zerrex stepped out of the way as the nymphs skated along the surface of the showers... and a moment later, she rose her hand and murmured and incantation Zerrex didn't recognize. The walls trembled, then water oozed out of several cracks that formed along the surface as the slate brick turned pale white, and Cherry bowed to Zerrex, saying pleasantly: "If you'll do the honors..."

The Drakkaren only stared at her, and she made a face as several lockers tumbled down and a Gore Devil leapt into the room with a scream, saying plainly: "Just bash it."

"That I can do." Zerrex cocked the sword back, then slammed it hard into the corner of the shower room, into the now-deformed bricks... and they exploded backwards in a burst of dust and gunk, the wall dissolving as Zerrex winced and covered his face. Cindy and Marina ran immediately for the crack as their barricade was blown backwards, however, and the reptile cursed at the sight of several Wentaku entering the area.

Cherry slid through the wall next, and the Drakkaren followed, wincing as he felt a bind spell starting over his body as he squeezed through the narrow opening... and then the nymphs slid smoothly forwards and began to throw balls of water at the mages, and they reared back, one of them howling as the hiss of steam and boiling water rose in the air. The Drakkaren let out a sigh of relief, and then he made a face as Cindy tore open the doors of the elevator and leapt into the narrow shaft, snagging a service ladder opposite. "Did you even try the call button?"

"Shut up and be dramatic." Cherry replied absently, motioning for Marina to go next, and then she grinned over her shoulder and patted the reptile on the back, saying easily: "Hey, at least you got a big fuckin' sword again, right?"

Zerrex grunted, putting the blade on his back and concentrating to attach it against his body by means of his own energy, and Cherry motioned for him to go next as Marina vanished from sight, the reptile leaping into the elevator shaft and snagging the ladder, before he winced as the metal groaned loudly under the combined weight of the three reptiles. Then he stared, watching as Cindy leapt above his head to land on the narrow lip in front of the third floor doors, clawing madly for a moment at the walls before getting her grip.

Marina climbed up behind her, but Cindy had already wedged her fingers into the doors, and she arched her back, grunting as her muscles flexed and she shoved one door open. She slid into the gap, and shouldered the other door roughly all the way into the wall. Zerrex watched as Marina jumped across next, landing neatly inside the room, and the Drakkaren climbed up before kicking off and leaping in.

Cherry finally leapt into the shaft, and she clambered quickly up the ladder, then kicked off and flipped her body in midair to land inside the room above, looking back and forth with a wince as she muttered: "Yeah, so, they're getting pretty pissed-off downstairs. We gotta move real fucking fast and-"

As Zerrex approached a grey steel door leading out of the waiting room, a camera locked onto him, and shutters slammed closed over the door and the other leading into the General's Office, several heavier shutters rolling down over the large, curtained windows looking in on the room behind with loud clacks. The Drakkaren made a disgusted face as he looked up towards the camera, and Cherry said sourly: "And avoid security systems. But you know, I'll take whatever we've got."

"Intruders! I've got all four of you at once!" Ultima shrieked gleefully, and the elevator shaft behind them lit up, the magnetic rails the elevator ran on humming into life as he snarled: "All personnel to the third floor waiting room outside the General's Office! Destroy the intruders!"

Cherry rose a magnum and fired a round into the camera, then cursed as she hit empty with this gun as well, holstering it and making a face at the shutter. "I'm getting real fucking tired of busting through walls, Boss. What do you suggest we do now?"

"I got it." Cindy walked over to the shutter blocking the door, and she slid down to the bottom of the long metal plate, grasping it firmly before straightening slowly with a grunt, hefting it carefully upwards inch-by-inch... and Zerrex stepped up beside her, smiling at her as he grasped the edge of the shutter at the same time... and she nodded firmly to him.

They both pulled upwards, and the locking mechanism holding the shutter in place snapped, Cindy letting out a sigh of relief. She nodded and murmured her thanks, then jerked her head to the others as the Drakkaren held the shutter up above their heads, Cherry tapping his chest as they passed and grinning slightly: "Now that is sexy."

The reptile made a face and followed through the now-open doorway, Cindy reloading her grenade launcher in the empty hall as Cherry looked back and forth with a dark expression, while Marina took the opportunity to cling to her father as he released the shutter, the metal plate falling back into place with a loud clank. Zerrex glanced down at her, then he asked quietly: "Which way?"

"Around that corner, straight down that hallway. They call it the Core... there are still scientists working in there." Marina said softly, and Zerrex nodded before Cherry put a hand against his chest, holding him in place, and the psychic made a disgusted face. "Don't be such a bitch, Cherry-"

"There's a turret defense system. Give me five seconds to take care of it." Cherry said sourly, glaring at Marina, and the female glared back in disgust before Cherry leaned carefully around the corner, concentrating on the large gatling gun mounted on the ceiling beside a door. It clicked as the camera locked onto her, but before the weapon could begin to cycle, it exploded as the bullets inside overheated, and another alarm went off, Ultima starting to scream again in fury.

She grinned at Zerrex, and the reptile ran around the corner, taking point again and glancing down another long hall as they passed a T-shaped intersection, and a pair of automated turrets opened fire almost immediately on him, then strafed towards the females. Marina repelled the bullets with a glare, however, protecting herself and Cindy as Cherry cheerfully danced through the hailstorm of rounds.

Zerrex glanced through the window in the grey steel door towards the series of computer terminals inside the large, square room and the at-least three diligently working scientists... and then he kicked it open and swung his sword down into the floor, shouting: "Everyone get down, now!"